


those other girls are just postmix lemonade

by orphan_account



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, i threw this together in an hour so it might be terrible lolol, karolina's POV, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 05:51:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: (She thinks that Nico’s a different sort of gorgeous. A blink and you’ll miss it kind. A miss it and wonder how you ever missed it kind).





	those other girls are just postmix lemonade

i.

 

Countless people have told her that she’s pretty.

In fact, so _many_ people have told her that she’s pretty, that she often wonders if it’s the most redeeming quality she possesses. _Just wait ‘til they find out I can glow multi-coloured like a string of fucking fairy-lights_ , she thinks. _Wonder if anyone’ll be so interested in my face then._

She remembers as a kid the kinds of things people would say. _Oh, she’s got the face of an angel! So perfect for a little girl raised in the light of the church_ , says the perfume scented woman wearing a blind smile. Her husband – flashing his pearly white teeth – says, _Just you wait, young lady. You’re gonna break some hearts with a face like that._

It’s the same rhetoric she’s heard her whole life, over and over. But here’s the difference:

Only one person has ever made her feel _beautiful_.

 

ii.

 

Karolina thinks that a lot of kids think their parents are evil, but their reasons are often generic and unfounded in truth. Not buying you a new TV or phone, not letting you go to a party – it’s not ‘evil’, or at least, she doesn’t think so. But what _their_ parents did? Luring innocent kids off the street and seasoning them for slaughter? That – _that_ is evil.

They’re at a service station in a place she doesn’t know the name of, not that she particularly cares. It doesn’t matter. They’ll be gone in less than an hour. That’s the sort of the thing that happens when all of your faces are plastered across every news station with warnings that you’re suspected murderers. _It’s bullshit,_ she thinks. _It’s all bullshit._

She’s wandering the aisles, looking for food that’s cheap and at least a little bit filling, when her _someone-special-but-not-official-girlfriend_ appears.

Nico’s wearing an oversized navy sweater and black leggings they bought at a thrift store; they all ran out of makeup weeks ago, so her face is refreshingly void of its usual dark colours. Karolina misses her black outfits and jewellery and black _everything_ , only because it’s something that was so uniquely Nico and it made her feel comfortable. All Karolina wants is for Nico to be comfortable. Perhaps even above her own wellbeing.

(She thinks that Nico’s a different sort of gorgeous. A blink and you’ll miss it kind. A miss it and wonder how you ever missed it kind).

‘You struggling to pick?’ Nico asks. Her eyes are a deep brown that seem so much softer without the thick layers of purple eyeshadow and black eyeliner.

‘A little. I was mainly just kinda thinking,’ Karolina confesses. She runs her fingers along the packets stacked along the shelves, picking up crisps and granola bars and the usual food she ends up buying, tossing them into the basket.

Nico just watches. Then she grabs a bag of the spicy flavoured Doritos and opens up the bag, beginning to eat them right there in the middle of the aisle. ‘What?’ Nico says, noticing Karolina’s shock. ‘We’ll pay for them’.

‘You can’t just – ’ Karolina starts, then cuts herself off once she realises who she’s speaking to. Nico does what she likes. That’s why she’s Nico. That’s why she likes her. ‘You can explain to the cashier why you couldn’t wait’.

Nico smiles her lazy smile, the one where the corners of her mouth barely move, but Karolina can see the fondness glittering in her eyes. It’s moments like these – simple moments – that make everything seem okay. Maybe they _are_ on the run, maybe their parents _are_ murderers and maybe there _is_ a daily struggle to find enough dead meat to feed an honest to god _dinosaur_ , but it’s all okay as long as Nico looks at her like _that_.

Nico looks at her like she’s beautiful, and not just because of the way her face looks. It’s something more than that. It’s something deeper. Pure, sweet. Something yet to be tainted.

 

iii.

 

Their place of rest that night is a dungy hotel. Well, she _says_ hotel. It’s more like an inn, one that even the desperate hearts of Mary and Joseph would’ve avoided. She shares a room with Nico because, well – why wouldn’t she?

Karolina showers slowly, taking the time to wash the smell of the van from her skin. She watches the water swirl down the drain, the tiles underneath her feet a grim orange. She lets her skin glow and glimmer, allows her eyes to admire the multitude of colours, just for practice. Just to check that she can still do it. _In case_ , she thinks, _just in case_.

Nico’s already in the double bed and the lights are off. There’s a pale glow shimmering through the curtains, the light spilling across the bed; it makes Nico’s eyes – staring straight at her – seem to spark and shine.

‘Why did you bother putting on pyjamas?’ Nico asks, her voice a mere whisper.

She tugs at the thin shirt and shorts she’s wearing. ‘I don’t know,’ She tells her.

‘Take them off,’ comes Nico’s soft voice. It’s not phrased like a request, but Karolina knows it’s not a demand either. There’s a silent _if you want to._ There’s always an unspoken _you can always say no._ It’s part of the reason Karolina always says yes.

She shimmies out of the clothes and slides into the bed. Nico’s skin is warm and bare, and they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Kisses are sweet and soft, touches practiced yet still gentle. Karolina lets herself be seen and lets herself feel every ounce of emotion pulsating through her blood.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ Nico says, and Karolina believes her. She says it many times, in between kisses along her collarbone, her breasts, her stomach, her thighs; Nico breathes the words into her skin and Karolina accepts the compliment.

(Everyone in the world can be pretty and some people can be beautiful but Karolina knows that nobody else will ever be Nico).

 

iv.

 

Checkout is early next morning, as it always is. Gert smirks when she sees a hickey flourishing upon the skin of Karolina’s neck but says nothing. The love bites scattered along Nico’s stomach are hidden by her shirt, so she escapes the knowing looks. She suspects that Nico is deliberate at where she leaves marks, wanting the others to know that Karolina is hers, whereas Karolina is always respectful and careful.

But it’s whatever. She’s cool with everyone knowing she’s Nico’s.

Breakfast consists of granola bars and water and Alex’s bad jokes. Karolina leans her head on Nico’s shoulder and smiles when she wraps a warm around her waist. She doesn’t know if the butterflies in her stomach and the content feeling in her chest is love. It very well could be. Nico makes her feel beautiful, thinks she’s great even though Karolina’s father is an evil maniac that can glow and sparkle and she can too. Nico thinks it’s kinda cool.

It could be love. It’s definitely something.

(Being on the run feels more like an adventure than a nightmare as long as Nico’s with her).

 

v.

 

Nico falls asleep when they’re on the road. She’s still holding Karolina’s hand, her palm warm and familiar. She breathes softly, in and out, in and out, and Karolina adjusts her breathing so they’re in perfect sync.

(The sun’s only just fully risen. The golden light illuminates Nico’s face and Karolina knows that she definitely loves her).

 

vi.

 

fin.


End file.
